aria-roledescription is used on elements without a suitable role
Automated check aria-roledescription, run with axe-core
- WCAG
- 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A)
- Severity
- Moderate: a degraded experience
- Typical effort
- Quick win, under 1 hour
- Category
- Code quality
Who this affects
Screen reader users.
Why it matters
A custom role description on an element with no meaningful role replaces the announcement with a word that says nothing about how to operate it.
How to fix it
Only use aria-roledescription on elements that have an explicit or native role, or remove it.
Check your own website
The free scan tests 3 pages against WCAG 2.2 A and AA in about 30 seconds. No sign-up.
Related checks: Code quality
- ARIA attributes used on the wrong elements
- ARIA roles that do not suit the element
- Braille-only ARIA attributes have no spoken equivalent
- ARIA attributes used in ways the role does not allow
- Deprecated ARIA roles are used
- The page body is hidden from assistive technology
- ARIA labels placed on elements that cannot carry them
- ARIA roles are missing their required attributes